How Do You Practice?

FOCUSED is the answer..

Interesting this thread came up as I was about to post a very similar one. As a league player for the most part, as I assume most are, I find that FOCUSED practice for an hour or two at a time works best. Play 8-ball against yourself and then run the remainder in rotation. Great drill if you have limited practice time. I'm told I play extremely slow, I don't agree but maybe you can tell me....
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/playingtheghost

I've been running the drill in this drawing for a while. I make sure to never setup starting with straight in shots. Rules are you can't let the CB contact any balls except the pocketed OB.

After clearing, leave the CB where it is, replacing whatever OB spot it's closest to, and set all the rest back up and keep going. I'm always a little random setting up the balls to make each rack a little different (CB start position could be anywhere on the table, too).

This is all about never losing control of the CB position. It's not hard, but it's a good warmup for me. I did this on a very fast 7' table for position practice. It's easy to go through 2-3 racks without missing, getting confidence up while calibrating my stroke and angles.

There is a difference between training and practice, at least for me. To me training are drills and practice is putting the training in action as in practice games.

Training is about strengthening weaknesses, learning new shots, experimenting to just see what happens if you do this. Sometimes knowing what doesn't work is more important than knowing what does.

Practice is putting that training in action under game situations.

This is how I have structured my pool sessions.

My training now is mostly all about stroke. Being able to deliver the cue in the fashion the shot calls to be used.

I do what I call single ball drills which as the name implies, is just one ball. I'll set up one certain type of shot to do. I will do this shot with different speeds and spins always striving for a certain spot for the CB to go. This is when I'll do some "wonder what happens if a try this" experimenting.

The type of shots range from simple angle cuts to high ange cuts, banks, combos, caroms and going two or more first to the OB.

Then there is what I call the 15 ball drill and as the name implies, all 15 bals are used.

I have a couple of version of this 15 ball drill. I do what I call carom, combo, or bank version. These are the only shots I will do when I roll all 15 balls on the table. Then there is the how slow can you roll version. This is shooting using just enough stroke to make the OB barely reach the pocket. Then there is the no bumping drill. This is placing the 15 balls between one set of corner pockets and side pockets, none touching nor on the rail. The object is to make as many balls as you can without bumping another ball or rail.

I have done the 15 ball drill using nothing but the bridge and sometimes one handed.

There is a two ball drill I use for tangent training. I'll set up a cut shot and place a OB on a rail where I think the CB will hit after contacting the OB.

The one theme that runs in will these drills is always going for a specfic spot on the table for not only the OB but the CB as well. A shot in pool has two parts, putting the OB where you want as well as the CB.

All this training is put into action practicing my 14.1 game.

randyg said:

Practice and Maintenance, different.

Practice is maybe adding something new or correcting an error.

Maintenance is making sure what you have works great.

Both are required.
randyg

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I've never heard it explained so clearly...practice and maintenance.

When you're warming before a match, it should be maintenance....
...it's too late to practice, you're gonna dance with the one you came with.

Thanx, Randy

Throw 2 racks of balls out and pocket them using a mid stroke, no order or pattern to loosen up a bit.

Shoot 30 balls at different angles, 7 to 8 ft distance with extreme power and various spin, pocket the ball and have my cue ball do the crazy stuff, must complete all 30.

Shoot 30 balls... Straight Shot… 7 to 8 ft running the rail with draw… both balls 1/2 inch off the rail and draw back to scratch…. must complete 30…then do the same thing with stun follow.

Repeat the above using extreme soft/roll speed, hopefully by now my arm is feeling good for all 3 speeds of stroke and alignment is good, staying down.

And as Randy said,,,,, Maintenance through it all

Straight Pool….Set up break shots and run out until I miss, Rinse and Repeat.

Play a few racks of 10 ball and then 15 ball rotation until I am bored

Then I play 3 cushion until the cows come home

I have many different ways to practice, this is just one.

randyg said:

Practice and Maintenance, different.

Practice is maybe adding something new or correcting an error.

Maintenance is making sure what you have works great.

Both are required.
randyg

Click to expand...

Excellent!

A fine concert violinist warms up with simple scales for an hour or two. This is maintenance, and is done every day for their entire lives. The pool equivalent to me would be stroke and pocketing drills.

After that they work on new pieces, or work on difficult passages in their repertoire. This is practice. The pool equivalent would be playing the ghost, or running racks in 14.1 or one-pocket.

And yes, both are required if you want to play either pool or the violin at the highest levels. I have no such aspirations, so I just throw the balls out and look for interesting shots to attempt. I'm in it for the fun, not for the glory.:wink:

As a champion fiddle player, screw that (also a very good classical player).

A professional will hardly practice an hour a week, nor will need it. Shows are enough practice, and scales do little to maintain anything as intonation is beyond automatic at that point.

The difference is if we mess up, nobody will notice. Messing up in pool means losing.

In music, you can correct and adapt as you're going along. That's why if you mess up maybe 1 of 20 other violinists may notice. The equivalent in pool would be guiding the OB to the hole as it rolls along after the shot.

Pool is much more unforgiving than music. I rarely ever practice music any more, but I can't see I time when I'd need to stop practicing pool, no matter how many hours I've put in.

Pidge said:

Its also interesting that some hit the ball up and down the table as a starter. I've never done this in practice either. Especially not for 10+ minutes. I'd be bored stiff by the end of it. I did it as a kid when we had a snooker table in the garage, but going up and down a snooker table was next to impossible for me at the time.

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I used to think the same thing. I practice speed drills frequently, but you must have and reach goals to make it fun. I start out with a lag which must be between rail and first diamond. Next speed is between 1st and 3rd diamonds, then 3rd and 5th, etc. Keep increasing distance until QB travels 4 table lengths, up, back, up, then back to rail for last time. Until you can hit each target on first try it seems you still need more practice.

jtaylor996 said:

As a champion fiddle player, screw that (also a very good classical player).

A professional will hardly practice an hour a week, nor will need it. Shows are enough practice, and scales do little to maintain anything as intonation is beyond automatic at that point.

The difference is if we mess up, nobody will notice. Messing up in pool means losing.

In music, you can correct and adapt as you're going along. That's why if you mess up maybe 1 of 20 other violinists may notice. The equivalent in pool would be guiding the OB to the hole as it rolls along after the shot.

Pool is much more unforgiving than music. I rarely ever practice music any more, but I can't see I time when I'd need to stop practicing pool, no matter how many hours I've put in.

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Ha, ha! There's a huge difference between being a champion fiddle player and being a world class violin soloist. Trust me, those guys practice, a lot.

I've been servicing the violin community for over 30 years, and having a shop in a town that hosts the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York City and Bolshoi Ballets, the Chamber Musical Society of Lincoln Center, and a world-class music camp, I've met many top soloists. I remember once when Elmar Oliveira dropped by my shop to buy some E strings. I had 6 Hill medium E strings in stock and he bought them all. He told me he would break them all by the end of the day, just practicing for his concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts that evening.

Maybe a 2nd violinist in a local community orchestra member can skate by without daily practice (heck, some of them barely bother to play their part at times), but the notion that if a top soloist messes up no one will notice is simply absurd. In today's classical world, technical mistakes by recitalists are considered unforgivable, and they will be heard, not just by a few, but by all who are listening. They're right out there on top of the orchestra, or maybe playing a cadenza unaccompanied by the rest of the orchestra. How could you possibly miss it when they went off the rails?

Go ask Mark O'Connor. He he practices maybe once a month...

I'm fairly certain he qualifies as a top soloist.

Violin fight!

Haha! Bring it!

When you small-stringers are done, I will see if my wife's hi-skewl friend wants some. Edit- he is a cellist.

He used to be #1 on billboard classical. I hear he is pretty ok

Wow! That means he must have sold like 12 records!

jtaylor996 said:

Haha! Bring it!

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You've been "Thunderstruck!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk#t=68

I wanna show up to a pool room in one of those outfits.

How many balls do they spot you if you show up with a mace instead of a cue ?

How do I practice? Long and hard ... just like my Johnson! I do apologize to anyone I might have offended. Having my share of adult beverages this evening!

Extra credit if you can name the source of that line.

100 straight in shots
100 draw shots
100 follow shots
100 shots with extreme running side
100 shots with extreme check side

Then a race to 15 with whoever is around

That was my morning session, for my evening session I start out with 100 straight in shots followed by 200 shots from various angles, trying to get the CB to hit a pre-determined spot on the rail. My last drill before compete in any of the nightly tournaments I place an OB on the spot with the CB 1 foot away (straight in) and simply respot the OB after each pot.

I set up a straight pool rack with a break shot. and keep track of my high run. I try to do 37 racks or about pocketing 500 balls. If I don't get good on my break shot I move the balls to a better position for more practice on break shots and keep going. If I move the balls start over on my count.